Vegas hospital claims tuberculosis case defamation

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas hospital is suing a personal injury lawyer over comments during a May news conference about a lawsuit filed over a tuberculosis outbreak last year.

Summerlin Hospital Medical Center accuses attorney Robert Cottle of implying the facility intentionally concealed or failed to diagnose a woman's tuberculosis infection because it would spark a state investigation.

Attorney John Cotton, representing the hospital, termed the Thursday filing in Clark County District Court an "enough is enough" lawsuit.

Cottle calls it sad that a corporation is suing him for what he calls protecting the public trust.

The complaint says Vanessa White had tuberculosis but wasn't properly screened while she kept visiting her premature twin girls at the hospital last summer.

White and both babies died. Her illness was diagnosed during an autopsy.

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